The Old Watch and the Rising Storm
by SoaringTiger
Summary: A man with few memories and a knack for flying, a group that remains at a naval base abandoned by their allies, an unknown and indefinite foe. A recipe for a story, no? Note that this is my first fanfiction and that any chapter with a '-1' is effectively the same chapter from a different viewpoint and can be skipped. Updates will be bicentennial.
1. Chapter 1

It was cold out.  
It was cold. And wet.  
All I could hear was a ringing in my ears.  
As the ringing faded away, I heard the ticking of my watch.  
My old watch.  
It was an old watch, in fact, it was my mother's. It was older than me.

"Ugh, my head... Where am I?" I ask myself.  
It certainly wasn't home.  
I was there now, so one could only wander aimlessly.

The city in front of me was only half lit up as if many of the lights were destroyed. As I entered the city, I could see the shell of the proud city. Barrel fires. Broken Windows. Cracks in the road.

 _What the hell happened here?_ I could only ponder.  
I saw someone walk down the cracked road. She looked as if she was looking for someone.

"Hey! Over here! You know anything about this city?!" I exclaim. She looks over and walks towards me. She stops a few meters from me and studies me. She then speaks in a tongue I don't understand. She repeats the phrase to me, but I can see the look of distrust in her eyes. She walks away, but motions for me to follow her. And thus I do.

We come across what seems to be a once-popular beach that has since been evacuated. She writes her name in the sand and points to it.  
"Wu-Yue Yü?" I question, as I remember those characters. She pouts, points to it again, and then shouts,

"Sa-mi-da-re!"

I am taken aback, as she seemed to be a quiet girl. She waves for me to continue following her, and thus the walk continues.

A Base. A Naval Base, here of all places. She leads me to what seems to be an office. She motions for me to wait there, right outside of the office.  
 _Samidare? Those characters I recognize, but I don't recognize the pronunciation... Shit, I wanna go home..._

I hear footsteps, but I still hear the girl talking in the office. I look up to see someone in a blue sailor uniform and cap to match. I stand up and try to greet her.

"Hello," I say. She looks over but says nothing.

"Erm," I stutter, thinking of other languages that she might speak.

"Guten Tag," I said.

"Guten Tag," she replies in a worried voice.

" _Would you know how the city was destroyed?_ " I ask in my best German. Maybe my luck won't fail me today.

" _Yes, the city was destroyed when Abyssal Warships attacked the world,_ " she replies. " _The only way we could fight back was through the creation of new weapons._ "

" _New Weapons?_ "

" _Yes, people like me..._ "

 _Like her?_ Shit, what the hell is going on?

As soon as the conversation finished, an explosion rang out. I could hear the sirens from the city.  
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

I could see them in the distance. The Abyssals. Dark black/gray skin and lifeless eyes. Lifeless and alien. I stood there, watching them just sail closer. Everything now just went to instinct. I heard the faint noise of aircraft soaring overhead. I ran towards the nearest anti-aircraft gun, as I saw them. The aircraft simply echoed the form of their mother-ships. I opened fire. Flames spewed from the barrels of the gun, and the ringing in my ears became louder. I continued and kept firing. And I kept firing until the only thing I could hear was the incessant clatter of the gun and the ringing.

I saw one go down in flames. As I fired upon another, I heard a click. _Out of Ammo_.

"Ich brauche mehr Munitionen!" I shout. No response. I looked for anybody who could help me. There were none. So I ran, and I kept running. Then I saw more aircraft flying overhead. These ones looked like Zeroes. Each plane simply jumbled together into one large dogfight, and one plane after another went down, no matter from which side. I ran towards the stockpile for more ammo, but I was running out of time. As I ran back, I saw black forms crawl up the beachhead.  
Whatever they were, they were coming right for the city. They were coming straight for me.

I loaded more ammunition into the gun and swiveled it towards the beachhead. I opened fire again. Every single damn one I destroyed, another would take its place. But I kept on the trigger. Even when they closed within 100 meters, I kept firing at that gun. Within 50 meters, rounds kept popping out of my gun.

 ** _Click_**  
 ** _Click_**  
 ** _Click_**

I was out of ammo, and they were soon going to overrun me.

 ** _Tick_**  
 ** _Tick_**  
 ** _Tick_**

My watch stops. And they were right there. The saying goes: "If one is to gaze into the abyss long enough, the abyss will begin to gaze into them."

And as I stared at those monsters, they stared back into me.


	2. Ch 1-1: Old Routines, New Experiences

It has been 9 months since the Abyssals appeared.

It is unknown to most why both the fairies and Abyssals appeared, but both seemed to have appeared around the same time.

It has been 7 months and 20 days since the Abyssals were able to cut off Iwakuni from the rest of Japan.

Much of those who lived there are stuck. All travel has been halted.

Telephone and telegraph lines, destroyed.

Wireless communication, disrupted.

The admiral in charge had to deal with what he could make do.

It has been 2 months since the last time the Abyssal fleet tried to capture the city. 2 harsh months.

The ship girls, who have been able to best the Abyssals, somehow were able to make contact with a few other bases. The communications were still gone, but contact still established. All they could do is ferry supplies from the, much better off, bases to the north. It had worked for some time.

But who knew how long they could hold out.

It was a strange day already.

The clouds were darker than steel baptized in the flame of man, it's rain heavier than the lead forged to create keels for ships out at sea. Rain poured heavily, almost drowning out the sorrows of the people. Almost.

Samidare was to patrolled the area, as to keep the populace calm. Of course, it was hard to do such a deed. Many were crying, right there, on the side of the streets. As she walked past them, she saw the canvas. White canvas. Of course, it wasn't just white canvas. Much of the bags needed were already used up, thus they had to use unorthodox covers, such as bedsheets and worn clothing stitched together. The canvas lined the streets, with blotches of red on top of them.

 _The bodies haven't been buried..._ Samidare thought. She knew that, soon, more people are going to lose trust in the military. More people will line the streets, covered in a white canvas.

Samidare continued to walk past them, and heard a crashing noise.

She sprinted over, only to see a young woman. She was on the ground, but started to move. Scared, she hid.

She had never seen this girl before, she was different. She began to walk into the city, so she followed.

She suddenly turned right, onto the road she was in.

She seemed to shout something, but she couldn't understand her. She shouts again, but it was for nought.

She asked, "Who are you?" No response. She asked again, but he looked even more confused than she was. She didn't know what do do with her, and thought of reporting back to the Admiral.

But she did motion her to follow her.

She tried to show her her name, and clearly, he was able to read it. Shespoke in another language. "Wu Yue Yü?" She asks.

She shouts her name, and she is clearly taken aback.

She motions again for her to follow.

She walked to the Admiral's office and motions her to stay.

"Commander?" She asks.

"Come in, Samidare." A reply comes.

As Samidare walks into the old and discolored office, the admiral, sitting at his desk, smoking one of his many cigarettes. The admiral was a veteran of course. Barely 40 years old too, with scars all over. It's a miracle that he only has a single scar across his eye on his face, lest he look like a killer.

"Anything new to report?" The admiral asks.

"The people are getting anxious and scared, Commander."

"I said, anything NEW to report," he restates. "I don't need to keep hearing the same damn thing over and over again."

"Well, there is someone I had never seen before, he is in the hallway right now, Commander."

"Why don't you bring her in?"

But as the admiral finishes, an explosion is heard.

And shouting. The man's stomping in heard throughout the base.

"Lebe, what's with that man?" The admiral asks.

"S-she asked for a gun and armor sir, as well as for us to head out, sir."

"Then get on it, I want every available Kanmusu to sortie and defend this city! Hit hard and hit 'em fast!" He shouts as they race to their dockyards.

Again the Abyssal fleet attacked.

And again, must the Kanmusu defend it.


End file.
